SDO10649 - A Proposed School Site at Simsay, Cerne Abbas, Dorset. Results of an Archaeological Evaluation

AC archaeology was commissioned by Dorset County Council's Property Management Division to carry out an archaeological evaluation of a site proposed for the building of a school. A desk-based assessment and geophysical survey had established the presence of linear earthworks and a number of below-ground anomalies on the site. Fifteen trenches, concentrated on two parts of the site where development was proposed, were excavated. Five broad phases of activity were identified, ranging in date from Iron Age to post-medieval. Features recorded included a Romano-British oven and a burial thought to be of the same date. A number of substantial ditches of early medieval date were recorded; the authors comment that these may correspond in date to the period of foundation of the abbey, and be associated with earthworks immediately to the north of the site. Later medieval and post-medieval features were interpreted as agricultural ditches, with the exception of a building of probable eighteenth-century date.